First tomato! Plus- I got rid of extra tomato plants!

Hey! Yesterday I harvested my first tomato of the season. I don't have a picture because I broke my camera, but it was a little round pink-skinned beauty like a Prudens whose name I can't recall. I gave it to my 88-year old neighbor Edna, who practically snatched it out of my hands, she was so excited about it. She is going to stuff it (and a zucchini some neighbors of ours gave her) with sausage and make a few meals out of it. Sounds delicious.

I weeded my vegetable bed yesterday, the one with the seedlings that had begun to cry out "feed me, Seymour!" (from the Little Shop of Horrors, in case the reference is too obtuse). I dropped three tomatillo plants off at Vicky and Juan's place a few doors down, and as promised, jammed about a dozen vegetable plants into a few pots and took them over to Darlene's house. I showed up at her doorstep bedraggled and dirty. She was cleaning her porch furniture.

"Wow," I said. "You clean the furniture on the porch too."

She laughed and made some comment about how she likes to keep things tidy. Keep in mind that I was covered in filth all the way up my arms and I had actual rivers of sweat on my face.

I told her, "I brought you some tomato plants. They're in the back." And then I said, "I'm your dirty hippie friend who brings you plants."

Darlene looked at me and said, "nah, you're a normal" and then tried to invite me into her house. I refused to go because I was too dirty. She reminded me that she has a son. Just then I looked in the house and saw her son hitting himself on the face on purpose. Several times.

Then my dog crapped in her yard. "No problem," she said. "I'll get that later." People can be so charitable to dirty hippies.

We went to go look at the plants and she was thrilled with how big and healthy they were. Hooray! She's going to keep as many as she can and perhaps give some to the neighbors. I gave her garden peach; cherry; and hillbilly potato leaf varieties, plus a few tomatillo plants. She's going to use hangers for three of the tomato plants. They are going to take over.

Darlene showed me the cute little spot in her brick patio that she pulled out to grow cucumbers and watermelon. She created a sweet little bamboo tepee for the cucumbers, which are already trellising. "The watermelon plants are going to overrun your patio," I said.

"Yeah," Darlene answered, "when they do, I'll probably pull them out."

Shannon